5 "Disappearing" Treaty 8 Land

5  "Disappearing" land and hunting territory reserved as a Treaty Right is wrong. 

"The Peace River is the lifeline for numerous First Nations - a critical pathway for their food security, cultural survival, and spiritual identity." (Leadnow.ca) It is wrong to "disappear" land upon which many people rely. In this region, many citizens including many First Nations live directly off the land, by hunting, gathering, and growing their own food. They will lose their homes and/or territory upon which they rely for physical, cultural, spiritual sustenance. 

Destroying land which has been guaranteed to them by aboriginal right in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and by treaty, Treaty 8, is a crime on so many levels. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that self-determination includes the right to freely pursue "economic, social and cultural development" and refers to dispossession, relocation, archaeological and historical sites, consultation and cooperation in good faith, distinctive spiritual relationship with lands & waters, the right to own, use, develop and control the lands and resources, conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands, and the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties. As well as prompt resolution of conflicts. Is there any wonder why Canada has been slow to ratify this declaration?

The Peace River was named to commemorate a peace treaty signed in 1781 between the Danezaa (Beaver) and the Cree Indians who inhabit the watershed. Later, before settlers arrived, First Nations of the area including Woodland Cree, Danezaa, and Chipewyan, signed Treaty 8 with Canada in 1899, agreeing to share territory, to accept reserve land, land entitlements, financial and material support, guaranteed hunting rights, and provisions to maintain livelihood in a territory large enough to enable them to live their culture. "This is land we rely on to hunt, fish, and hold ceremonies. Our ancestors are buried here." (Cited by Amnesty International.) The Federal government representing all Canadians has an obligation to respect the treaty - a nation-to-nation contract.

Since the build-up to Site C, local First Nations bands have participated in the environmental assessment and hearings process. Three bands have initiated court challenges - the Prophet River First Nation, the West Moberly First Nation, the Blueberry River First Nation, as well as Treaty 8 First Nations in both British Columbia and Alberta.

On September 12, 2016, the Federal Court of Appeal in Montreal will hear the latest legal challenge of Site C. A Treaty 8 Justice for the Peace Caravan is travelling across Canada by bus to focus attention on this case and the larger issues involved. Follow them at nosite-c.com and JusticeForThePeaceCaravan on Facebook.com.

Brody, Hugh. Maps and Dreams: Indians and the British Columbia Frontier. Douglas & McIntyre, 1981. Thirty-five years ago, Hugh Brody researched the clash of cultures between the Indians of this region and the oil and gas interests preparing the way for a pipeline. Brody lived with the Beaver Indians (Danezaa) north and west of Fort St John, on the Halfway and Moberly Rivers, in an attempt to learn and document the peoples' understanding of the land and their connection to it. His presentation balances both views, but in his conclusion, "A Possible Future," he comments: "Great fortunes are to be made, from construction and speculation . . . development . . . progress . . . [Talk of] national expansion [is] . . . a brightly coloured smokescreen behind which minority rights, local needs, economic interests of the majority, and destruction of the land itself have all been conveniently concealed. Future generations will wonder at the dominance of the few and the gullibility of the many." [p. 181]

Lutz, John Sutton. Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations. UBC Press, 2008. ". . . there is not yet a will among non-Aboriginal Canadians to listen across the boundaries that so clearly exist, to hear alternative ideas. Racism has not gone away." [p. 298]